A minimal real‑time chat skeleton built with Express.js, HTMX, Alpine.js, Handlebars, and Tailwind CSS. The initial release focuses on a clean project structure you can fork or extend for side projects, coding interviews, or learning modern progressive‑enhancement workflows.
Status: early prototype – core plumbing is in place, but functionality is intentionally lean to encourage experimentation.
| Area | Highlights |
|---|---|
| Server | ⚡ Express 5 |
| Templating | 🔧 Handlebars partials & layouts • HTMX request helpers |
| Front‑End | ✨ Alpine.js reactive snippets • HTMX progressive enhancement • Tailwind utility styling |
| Tooling | 🔄 Concurrent dev scripts (server + Tailwind CLI) • ESLint/Prettier (optional) |
- Node.js ≥ 20 / Express 5 – lightweight HTTP & API layer
- HTMX 2.0.6 – server‑driven interactivity (AJAX, SSE, websockets, etc.)
- Alpine.js v3 – sprinkle‑in reactivity for client‑only micro interactions
- Handlebars v8 – semantic HTML templating with layouts & partials
- Tailwind CSS v4 – utility‑first styling compiled at build time
| Tool | Version |
|---|---|
| Node.js | 20 LTS or newer |
| npm | 10.x |
| Git | any |
# Fork / clone
$ git clone https://github.com/EvegeniyNekrasov/simple_chat.git && cd simple_chat
# Install dependencies
$ npm install# concurrently: nodemon (server) + tailwind --watch
$ npm run dev
# Visit ➜ http://localhost:6969.
├── public/
│ └── js/
│ └── chat.js
├── views/
│ ├── layouts/
│ │ └── main.hbs
│ ├── partials/
│ │ └── message.hbs
│ └── index.hbs
├── server.js
├── package.json
└── README.md
Create a local .env (copied from .env.example).
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
PORT |
6969 |
HTTP port for Express |
The config helper surfaces these vars via process.env and provides sane fallbacks.
| Script | Purpose |
|---|---|
dev |
run server & Tailwind CLI in watch mode (recommended during development) |
start |
start compiled server (NODE_ENV=production) |
build:css |
build & purge Tailwind to public/css/tailwind.min.css |
lint |
run ESLint & Prettier checks |
test |
placeholder for upcoming Vitest suite |
- Switch to websockets for real‑time push
- Add authentication (passkeys or magic links)
- Integrate Prisma & SQLite/Postgres for persistence
- Unit/integration tests with Vitest & Supertest
- One‑click deploy buttons (Render & Fly.io)
Feel free to submit feature requests via GitHub issues.
Contributions are welcome! Please:
- Fork the repo & create your branch:
git checkout -b feature/my-awesome-feature - Commit changes with conventional commits:
feat: add X - Open a Pull Request – describe what you changed & why
We follow the Contributor Covenant code of conduct.
Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for more information.
- HTMX • Alpine.js • Tailwind CSS
- Handlebars templating engine
- Icons8 for placeholder images
Built with ♥︎ by Evgeniy Nekrasov